Overall, I think it's a good game. The game clock says it took me 9 hours to beat. I started on hard but I switched to normal after I got frustrated with the slowdown in Chapter 1. You can switch from the in game menu but you can only switch to lower difficulties and not higher. I felt normal is harder than Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma's normal (which I think is easy). I started playing hard and the Regent of Mask fight at the end of Chapter 1 is much harder.

The combat is the same as previous Ninja Gaiden games except for the SoB segments. They seems to be random but not all that often. After you've defeated an enemy with a SoB or a combo, they crawl on the floor and move slowly. That's when you can do a finishing move. If you don't attack them, they'll die after 10 seconds. One little problem is that if you're attacking an enemy and an enemy waiting to be finished is right by you, you'll switch from the enemy you're attacking to do a finishing move to the other one.

Ryu's counter attack is weaker. You can either press X to do up to three horizontal slashes or Y to teleport in the air and do a slash down (which can lead into a SoB). Guard stuns and uncounterable attacks make it harder to counter some enemies.

There are 13 unique enemies. More if you count the variations (upgraded enemies, rocket launchers). Some enemies can block and evade attacks. After you bring their life down, they show blood on their clothes. When that happens, they are weaker and you can get attacks on them easier. For example, if you do a slide on the soldiers you first see in chapter one, it will stun them a little bit. Sometimes it will launch but I think it depends on what they are doing but it's rare to launch them with the slide. When they are bloody, you can always launch them with the slide into an aerial combo. The soldiers with the shields almost always counter flying swallow but when they are bloody, they always get hit. You can't launch the alchemist into an aerial combo until they are bloody. They also have a suicide move and they only do it when they are bloody.

Enemies with rocket launchers are really easy to take out. If you just jump in the air and press aim, it will automatically lock onto them. So whenever you see a rocket, just jump, aim, and fire. Shurikens don't seem to be too useful now. I mostly used them to stun rocket enemies when I was far from them but the bow makes them really easy now. They die in 1 hit. However, they'll probably be more effective in Ninja Trials because you don't get the bot locks on.

The movelist is ok. Full circle Y just does three circular slashes but doesn't launch. I don't use it really but I guess it's useful if you're surrounded by enemies with shields. It will knock them right off. You can charge moves during combos. So you can do an UT during a combo now. If you press XXY (hold), you'll do three attacks and if you hold Y, then you'll do another attack when you release it. XY(hold) is gone. You'll always go into the air now.

Story was ok. No really big surprises or anything. Ryu doesn't seem to feel guilty for the lives he's taken. Just seems like his arm hurts.

Bosses are eh. I don't' really care for any of them. I miss Alma.

Presentation is really good though. The cuteness transition nicely. I kind of like the kunai climb and the level design feels better than the previous games. Some more wall running would have been cooler though.

Mission mode is now Ninja Trials. You start of with a level 1 ninja and he can only do 4 attacks (XXX, Y, XYY, ->X). I'm guessing you get more attacks as you level up. Makes the trials harder with a limited movelist. After you beat a few on easy, you'll get to play some one normal. I think they could be fun playing with a friends online. Not sure how smooth it is. I didn't try it out yet. I don't know how fun the versus will be.

I like the game but it doesn't do anything really new and exciting. I'd want more enemies that are varied and more swords would have been nicer. I would rank the series (based on gameplay) as Ninja Gaiden 1 > Ninja Gaiden 3 > Ninja Gaiden 2. I know NG2 had all the cool weapons but I didn't like the combat system. If they give me Ninja Gaiden 1 enemies/bosses and more weapons as DLC, NG3 might move up.

When you jump off an enemies head you can follow up with an attack. XXXXX or Y which does the flying swallow move. If the enemy can't block/dodge, it's a guarenteed kill. It works on the enemies that pop out of the sand on day 2 since they don't block.

It doesn't work that well as an offensive move. It will stun the enemies slightly or be blocked. It will only launch when enemies are on the brink of death (bloody) or on some rare occasions when they are off guard. Sliding into an enemy and attacking is the same as rolling/dashing into an enemy and attacking. The only real difference is that when you're evading, you may hit an enemy but nothing else comes out of it. The enemies that pop out of sand and the white slider fiends with one eye from NGB/NGS have a slide that causes a guard break. If Ryu's slide worked like that it would be cool but maybe too powerful.

I seen the livestream walkthrough to the end, overal it looks like a nice solid game, one level looked like a monastery with demons, and ending was AWESOME, especially the last few seconds before end credits, that Main Theme and Ryu combined, I got goosebumps!

I have also seen some vets playing the game lately, that dash slide is great and seen him use it to launch enemies up, use it right and its a good offense move IMO, i will for sure use it alot once I master the controls first.

Also Keylay, this Ninja Trials, is the sword combos limited or do you mean the more you play and level up you gain more moves? or do you have to pick harder difficulties to earn them?

PS. Can you rip the Main Theme (plays also in End Credits and Title menu)? Nobody on youtube has done and I am going crazy for not having it, I absolutely love it!

Kind of disappointed that the full circle Y attack doesn't launch like it use to. But it seems like you can at least chain it with other moves anyway, so I guess it's ok. Thanks for the impressions, can't wait to get the game.

Kind of disappointed that the full circle Y attack doesn't launch like it use to. But it seems like you can at least chain it with other moves anyway, so I guess it's ok. Thanks for the impressions, can't wait to get the game.

Well, if you look at MasterRyuKenden´s videos, it seems that you are still able to launch enemies after the 360 move.